Out of my Limit
by UlquiorrArekushia4
Summary: Rin didn't think that being a policeman would be uneventful (well, he didn't think he would be a policeman either). But when he finally has a once-in-a-lifetime experience, he isn't very excited about the details. [RinHaru: merman Haru/policeman Rin; other characters are involved. Other genres: humor]
1. Chapter 1

[Rin Matsuoka POV]

Chapter 1

I never thought I'd ever hear the words "fishing for men" come out of Sousuke's mouth.

It was a normal, routine day like the rest. Rarely any calls came in from this area, but Sousuke and I still patrolled just in case. There were plenty of things to look at while driving around, but after several weeks of seeing the same scenery, it would get kind of boring. Sometimes I did want a change of pace.

Getting a strange call in the middle of the day from Sousuke wasn't what I had in mind.

"Yo, Rin?"

"Sousuke?"

"Yeah, are you busy?"

"Not really. Did you want me to pick up lunch for you or something?"

"No, it's just…a few fishermen called a few minutes ago. I'm actually doing something, so I was wondering if you'd go instead."

"Fishermen?"

"Yeah. According to them…" There was a long pause.

"What? Did they find something weird in the water?"

I clearly heard Sousuke clear his throat before speaking, making me raise an eyebrow. "They said they'd gone out early to go fishing, but it looks like they accidentally ended up fishing for men instead."

It took a while to process that.

"…What?" I finally managed to say.

"I know, right? But you should probably go check it out anyways. They sound serious enough."

"You're kidding, right?" My shoulders slumped a bit.

"This is different from that prank I pulled on you last week. Want to talk to them yourself?"

"No thank you."

Sousuke huffed a bit. "Anyways, good luck. It's not everyday you get these kind of calls."

"I don't need you to tell me that," I sighed and sat up in the seat of the police car I was in, starting up the engine. 'Did those guys have to word it like that?' Not even a minute after starting to drive to the main section of the beach designated for fishing, I got another call from Sousuke.

"Great, what did they say this time?" I said as I turned onto a main street.

"They called again, said you should get there as soon as possible. They sound even more serious this time."

"And you're sure these aren't just a group of kids that want to mess with us?"

"I've talked with them before. I know what they sound like."

"And you're not just handing over this job to me because it sounds ridiculous?"

Silence.

"Sousu—"

"I'm not," He muttered matter-of-factly and hung up before I could say anything. I had definitely heard the lying tone in his voice.

"Liar," I muttered in return before parking the car, an expanse of the deep blue ocean to my left. Before, it might have made me feel relaxed, but now it was just a common sight. Getting out of the car and locking it, I put on my hat to complete my outfit out of habit and took a pair of handcuffs if things got complicated. I didn't like carrying around a gun with me unless it was necessary, and so far there'd been no need to use it. It'd probably be like that for a while. The people living here weren't the type to cause trouble. Even though that would be a relief to anyone at first glance, it inevitably got boring to me. I wasn't a person who could just sit around and be calm. That was part of the reason I had the job I did right now. 'That, and…'

I sighed. 'Forget it, Matsuoka.'

I could see the fishing boat from a distance away. Hell, I could even smell the fish from several meters away. I'd been told several times that my sense of smell was absurdly keen, but that was a disadvantage at times. This was definitely one of them; at least it was helping me locate where the fishermen were. Now, if only my sense of smell could take care of actually having to face those guys.

Sighing deeply, I put a hand in my pocket as I went onto the board walk, going up to three older men who were looking down at their boat, muttering and stealing glances at each other. 'Suspicious…'

Once they saw me walking towards them, they straightened up and turned to me. Even though I was here to help, it looked like they we're guarding the boat from me. Great, uncooperative people were the best kind to deal with. It wasn't like their boat could have held something extremely important, anyways; it was one of the smaller types compared to the other ones docked beside it. It was a miracle that it hadn't collapsed and sank yet, looking like it hadn't been painted in years and more damaged than it should have been.

"I'm officer Matsuoka," I said casually as I came within speaking distance of them. They seemed to loosen up as they saw my relaxed posture.

"We were expecting Yamazaki to come, but it looks like we won't need to keep an eye out for trouble from you," one of them remarked immediately. "You look like the type of person that would be around him. I trust you."

'Thanks?'

I cleared my throat. "Anyways, he told me about the call you gave them. Knowing more of the details would help me." The oldest of the three, one who had a head of completely white hair that glowed in the harsh mid-day sunlight, stepped forward. I did hold respect for these kinds of people; they didn't let their age get to them that easily, and that was especially obvious in this situation.

"We went out early to fish today, as soon as the sun began to rise," he started. His voice was slightly low and very raspy. It was the kind of voice I thought I'd probably have when I got older, and I didn't know whether I'd like it or not. "We always go fishing in the same area since there seem to be plenty of fish to catch every time we go there. Today was a bit different. There weren't as many fish as there usually were, and the waters were very calm. We caught about half the amount of fish that we usually do. Still, it was a large amount.

The entire time he was talking, I awaited what was inevitably going to come out of the old man's mouth. 'Fishing for men? How does this even tie into what he's telling me?'

"So we came back to the dock, but our youngest member—" he patted the back of the man with the least gray hair in the group, "—claimed that something else was in the net where our fish were . We didn't know what to do at first, but we eventually decided to open up the net to see what it was."

"And…," I could feel the words about to come out of him.

"Instead of finding a fish, we found a young man. He looks around your age."

Although the matter had seemed trivial at first, now I was worried. They had possibly found the body of someone who might've been missing. That wasn't really something I was eager to deal with.

"Was he breathing?"

"Our eyesight is getting worse by the minute," the youngest one replied. "We couldn't tell."

"I take it I have permission to look inside the net?" I took a step towards the boat, but they seemed hesitant.

"There's also one more thing…"

I turned my head to look back at them before I could steal a glance into the boat, just like they'd been doing a few minutes earlier. "What is it?"

"We thought it was a normal boy, but…well, our eyes might be tricking us. Go see for yourself, but try not to call too much attention."

'That's what I should be telling you,' I sighed and nodded, smiling at the fishermen to reassure them before turning back to the boat. 'Honestly, I think they're making a bigger scene than—'

"…Huh?"

Everything else was normal. The net wasn't ripped, there was a decent amount of fish in the net, the boat was actually in pretty good shape despite its outer appearance, and the water around the boat was a deep blue reflecting the sky. But…

'What the hell is that?'

The guy almost looked like he was asleep. Every few seconds, you could clearly see his chest moving upwards. He was surrounded by the fish in the net but he didn't look affected by it, laying on his side. His hair was a dark shade of blue, almost black, shining from the afternoon sun, stopping at the base of his neck. His expression was relatively calm and relaxed.

That wasn't what bothered me.

There was something blue on his shoulders, on his forearms, and his nails we're a shade of blue you'd see on an Easter egg, pastel and bright. Carefully making my way closer, I reached out and touched the blue spots. They felt slippery and slightly slimy, almost like…scales. His nails looked like they'd gotten a professional manicure. Grabbing his wrist, I held his hand up to my face and spread the fingers apart, getting even more confused as I saw a transparent substance at the base of his fingers that looked a lot like webbing.

But even that wasn't the weirdest part.

I took off my hat and shrugged off my police jacket to reveal a white wifebeater beneath, getting more comfortable. Crouching down, I started to move more fish out of the way of the guy's body. It felt kind of weird, but I tried not to make a big deal out of the sensation. My hands stopped cold when I saw another large section of blue beneath a layer of fish. Maybe I was going crazy. Then again, three other men also saw what I was seeing right now. Sighing a bit, I reached forward and touched the sparking blue. If I wasn't in a boat right now, I would have been content with just assuming it was really clean, really blue water.

Of course, it was scales instead.

They felt the same as the ones on the guy's arms and shoulders. Moving more fish out of the way, I was rendered into more shock as I saw how long this…thing was. And even though I knew this was the kind of stuff you see in fairy tales and The Little Mermaid, the reality was staring back at me. He had a tail attached to him. It wasn't some sort of costume; the scales started at his upper abdomen and became bolder and more firm while keeping that slick texture of the scales on his arms, completely taking over the bottom half of his body at the hips. The large fin at the end of the tail was a bit smaller than my wingspan.

"…" I suddenly felt eyes on me, other than the gazes of the men on the deck above. My eyes slowly came up until my gaze was back on the guy's face.

Except this time, his eyes were open and staring at me.

The irises we're easily bluer than any ocean I'd ever seen. There might as well have been an ocean compressed into this guy's eyes. The pupils were slightly slitted. Most of the iris was a deep blue, but a small section around the pupil was a slightly lighter shade, like that of a pool and not an ocean or lake. Even the darker blue of his iris looked about ten different shades of the color all mixed together.

After several long moments of observing his eyes, I finally realized that I was staring and cleared my throat, looking up at the fishermen on deck. They'd taken a few steps back, as if the guy (Merman? Half-fish? Fish-man?) was going to attack them at any moment. I could almost feel the guy's gaze following mine. He stared straight at me as I looked back over at him.

"…What's your name?" I asked. After nearly a minute of silence, I asked again, but it didn't look like he was even thinking of answering. "Oi, your name. You have one, don't you?"

"…"

'Are you kidding me?' I sighed. Not only was he some sort of fantasy creature, he was also a prick. "Just tell me already."

"…Free."

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow, looking at him skeptically and trying to keep my eyes on his face and not his tail or otherworldly traits. "Your name can't be 'Free'. What's your real name?"

"…" He looked annoyed.

"As soon as you start cooperating with me, this'll be a lot easier," I remarked. "Where're you from?"

"…Free."

"Let's try again. Why are you here?"

"Free." Now the guy was saying it with conviction, like that was the answer to everything in the world.

"What's with that tail? And why is there webbing on your hands?"

For a moment he looked like he was going to say something else. His mouth opened, then remained open as he tried to say something. After several seconds, he immediately gave up and his expression changed from annoyed to I-don't-really-care. "Free."

"Are you fucking serious?" I muttered under my breath. He was making this way too complicated.

This time, he chose not to answer (smart choice) and struggled to move, slipping and squirming over the piles of fish around him. His nose scrunched slightly at the sight but he still tried to get out of the boat. Instead of trying to stop him, I watched. He obviously hadn't wanted to get caught at a fishing site, much less be part of the catch. His eyebrows furrowed as he gripped the railing of the side of the boat and tried to push himself over into the water; it was only then that I saw the underside of his tail. It had clearly been injured, although it was unclear what had caused his injury. Crimson was flowing from a gash a couple of centimeters long, trickling down his tail. The sight of that color clashing with the shining blue of his tail made me feel slightly bad for him, even if he was being difficult and annoying.

"Oi, stop forcing yourself. You won't get anywhere like that," I stood up and walked over to him, being careful not to step on any fish, and grabbed his arm, turning him onto his back again. He clearly winced but didn't look in my direction, as if that would hide anything. 'Honestly, making me feel like this was my fault…'

"Let me help you. Are you so stuck up you won't accept help from an injury, fish-boy?"

"…Free."

My eyebrow twitched and I looked to the side, sighing in exasperation. After a moment of thought, I retrieved my jacket, shrugging it on, and stuffed my hat partially into one of its larger pockets, going back onto the deck and confronting the men who still looked unsettled by the fact that the thing in the fishing net was still alive.

"I'll take him with me," I told them. "Do you have a container he fits in?"

"You're taking him?" The eldest sounded genuinely surprised. Not that he shouldn't have been surprised. I would have been more worried if he wasn't.

"I'll wait for him to heal, then bring him back. The rest of the people here don't need to know what happened today; can I trust the three of you to keep this secret?" They all nodded. It was kind of reassuring, but it wasn't like there wasn't much chance that people would believe them if one of them chose to tell someone, anyway.

"We have a larger container for large catches, he should fit there," the youngest suggested. "I'll lead the way."

I nodded and turned back to the boat. Apparently fish-boy had realized how useless it was to try to force himself back into the water, and was now laying there, still looking half annoyed and half carefree. I jumped back down onto the boat, making it rock back and forth slightly as I walked over to him. As soon as I started to reach out to him, he glared at me and shifted away.

"I'm trying to help you," I muttered, glaring back at him. "Want me to help or do you want to bleed to death here?" I was probably exaggerating, but that was what I had to do to get this guy to even start to listen to me. After several moments of staring each other down, he finally relaxed slightly. Taking advantage of the split second of hesitation, I moved closer to him and slipped an arm under his upper back and another over the midsection of his tail, being careful to avoid his injury. He seemed uncomfortable with the way I was touching him, but I didn't feel like dealing with what he wanted. I was trying to help him, and this was the only way I could. He had to endure it now.

Instead of climbing onto the deck, I took the nearest set of stairs, being careful not to drop him. His tail was heavier than I thought, and carrying him felt like trying to carry a huge, slippery bar of soap. I muttered a curse several times when I almost fell over or dropped him, but managed to make it onto the main deck. The entire time, he didn't say a word and didn't look anywhere besides the ground. It might've been my imagination, but I thought I'd seen him pouting slightly. He wasn't making the situation any better. Thankfully, the only people at the beach today were the fishermen; the weather was colder today, definitely not comfortable for a beach visit.

It would've taken only about a minute to get to our destination, but since I was carrying a heavy load and had to be careful, it ended up being about five minutes before I saw the container that they'd been talking about. It was definitely big enough to fit fish-boy, but I wasn't sure how I was going to get it home—

'Home? Hell no. I'm not taking him to my house. What am I thinking?'

But…there wasn't really anywhere else to take him. Plus, my house had a pool I didn't use anymore, so…

I sighed. I didn't know if I'd be able to handle half an hour with this guy living with me.

"This is it," the youngest fisherman stated. The container was already filled, and my arm was definitely relieved to finally lose the weight that I was carrying as I set fish-boy into the water. He was more than glad to be away from me even if it was by a few feet.

"Thanks," I turned to the fisherman, deciding to ignore the slightly annoyed gaze coming from a certain half-human. "I'll take it from here." He nodded and smiled slightly, making me slightly jealous that he wasn't the one that had to deal with this thing for who knows how long. With my eagerness to get rid of him, it would only take a few days.

I took out my phone from my back pocket, dialing Makoto. Although we we're in different departments, we usually called each other for help when we needed it. And I definitely needed it now.

"Hello?"

"It's Rin."

"Oh, Rin. Did something happen?"

"Makoto…can you keep a straight face no matter what I tell you?"

"Huh?"

"I found a merman. He's annoying as hell."

"…Rin?"

"Just drive over to the main beach and you'll see. Bring your truck, I'm going to need it."

"O-okay…I'll be there in ten minutes."

Ten minutes were too long.

I tried to make conversation; I wasn't completely done with trying to get fish-boy to say something other than "free", like he was some sort of salesperson. I asked where he was from, who his parents were, what his hobby was, what his plans for the future were, why he was in the area where the fishermen were—the answer to all of that was free, free, free, free, and free. At this point I didn't know whether the guy was trying to annoy me or partially mute.

"Hey…can't you say anything other than 'free'?" I finally asked after I was 200% fed up with his answers. He stared at me, and for once he didn't look annoyed. "…You can't talk or something? What are you, The Little Mermaid?"

The annoyed look was instantly back, making me smirk slightly. Teasing him was fun. Slightly.

"Rin!" I heard a familiar voice call out in the distance and turned around, seeing Makoto park his pickup truck next to the cop car and come out, hurrying over to me. He looked confused when he saw the large container next to me, but that was soon replaced with shock as he saw what was inside.

"That's…"

"I told you," I remarked. "I don't usually mess with you."

"…What's his name?" Makoto got closer and crouched down to be level with fish-boy. Makoto smiled, but it didn't look like the merman was going to smile back anytime soon. Even so, he did look different around Makoto. Less annoying?

"I asked him about a hundred questions by now. He keeps on saying the same thing. Free."

"What's free?" Makoto asked, confused.

"That's what he says to every damn question I've asked him. 'Free'."

"Why?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be so frustrated," I sighed. "Nevermind; can you put this onto your truck? I need to drive him back to my house. It's the only place I can keep him that won't attract too much attention."

He nodded, and we both went to opposite sides of the container, Makoto near the guy's head and I at his tail, lifting it up and slowly moving over to Makoto's truck. The entire time we walked over, fish-boy looked completely at ease, staring at me as I struggled to not let the container topple over.

"Might want to lay off the seaweed," I muttered under my breath. In a split second, the fin at the end of his tail was raised above the water, right in front of my face. I realized too late what he was doing as his fin slammed onto the surface of the water, my vision going blurry as I was doused in it.

"Rin?!" Makoto had been focused on moving and didn't catch what had happened until he heard the splash of the water.

"You little…," I glared at him, but he was still looking at me with that plain expression.

"L-let's just get to the truck," Makoto suggested, seeing how annoyed I was getting. Deciding not to respond, I was silent as we lifted the container more to slide it onto the back of his truck. Since a pretty large amount of water had been politely handed to me, none of the water in the container spilled over as we finally let go of the container and closed the back of the truck. I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck and turning to Makoto.

"I'll drive my car, you drive yours," I suggested, although it sounded more like a command. "You should see if he'll talk to you." Makoto nodded and smiled slightly before heading to the driver's seat of his car. I turned and walked over to the cop car, leading the way to my house since Makoto had only been there a couple of times and didn't know the way yet. Luckily for my current situation, I had a decent home near the outskirts of the town. People weren't too nosy, so they probably wouldn't have any issues with my keeping a half-man, half-fish there.

Probably.

Making a left, I looked in my review mirror to see that it seemed like Makoto was carrying a conversation on his own. Fish-boy actually did act different around him; it hadn't been my imagination. I guess it was because Makoto was generally more approachable than I was.

I parked the car in the small driveway, making space for Makoto to fit as well. He came out of his car to approach me.

"It looks like he really does only say 'free'. I don't think it's because he wants to, either."

"So you're saying it's impossible for him to say anything else?" I raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the guy. Only the top of his head and part of the bottom of his tail was visible, trying his best to go completely underwater in the container which was still slightly too small for him.

"It looks like it. It's as if his mouth doesn't know how to form other words even if he tries," Makoto responded. I could see how that was possible; it'd happened on the fishermens' boat when I'd tried to get him to talk. "How long are you going to keep him here, Rin?"

"As long as it takes…hopefully a few days," I sighed a bit. "I'll go open the doors so we can carry him out to the backyard." I jogged up to the front door and unlocked it, then went through my house and opened the doors necessary to get to the backyard, making sure there was enough space for us to make it through. By the time I'd come back to the front of the house, Makoto had the back of his truck open, the container with fish-boy ready to be hauled out. This time, I took the opposite end so I wouldn't get splashed again, although I wasn't completely assured that he wouldn't try to do something to me if I made even one wrong move.

"Maybe you should take care of him," I teased Makoto, making it into my house and carefully walking around the furniture. "He likes you more."

"Really? I mean, if—"

"You're too nice," I scoffed slightly, smiling slightly. Even if Makoto and I didn't have much in common, having him around was comforting. "I was kidding, unless you actually want to take responsibility for something I wanted to do."

"I don't think you're bad at this kind of thing," Makoto was too vague, making me give him a questioning look. "Caring for people."

"Thanks?"

"You're more approachable than you think," he laughed a bit, stepping back and out to the yard. I didn't answer. Following him outside, we found a spot and set down the container. "Is that it?"

"Yeah, I'll take it from here," I nodded to him, noticing that he wasn't wearing the outfit he usually put on while he was working. I felt a little less guilty for not interrupting him during work. "Thanks, Makoto."

He smiled. "If you need help again, just give a call. Recently there have been fewer calls and more people working in the same department, so I have more time to relax."

"Sounds eventful," I remarked as we walked to the front door. "Up until today, nothing major happens with me."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I sighed a bit, "but it doesn't give me much to do. Some people start thinking we're lazy and respect us less."

"Well, all you can keep doing is what you have been. People are safe, right?" Makoto stepped off of the front steps and turned to smile at me.

"Yeah…thanks, again," I smiled back at him. "Wish me luck dealing with this guy." Makoto laughed a bit before going back to his truck and driving away. It was a good idea that I'd called for his help; he was good at cheering people up as well as helping out. Closing the door and locking it, I remembered what I had just allowed to take residence in my backyard and sighed. This was going to be anything but fun, with the way fish-boy was acting towards me.

"Oi," I called out as I walked out into the backyard, seeing the container but no one in it. 'He's gone…?' My pace quickened a bit and I approached the container, sighing when I saw that he hadn't tried to run away (if that was even the right term for him). Somehow he'd found a way to completely submerge himself in the water. His tail was slightly bent by the hips and where his knees would've been at, and his upper body was hunched inwards. It was just barely enough to fit him in. My eyes glanced upwards at the pool a few meters away. I had a crazy idea.

Three hours later was when I processed that I'd actually gone through with it.

The pool was completely clean and filled with water. Since I'd been skeptical about the idea of having chlorine in it, I'd filled it directly with cold water from the hose. I hadn't used the pool in a while, so there had been a lot to clean up, but once I'd started I had focused only on cleaning, my thoughts shutting down as I acted on instinct. In no time, it looked as if the pool had been clean and ready to use for weeks, not abandoned for months.

I stepped back once I finished and took a deep breath, deciding not to think about why I'd just cleaned and filled up a pool for an annoying cross between a fish and man that obviously didn't want to be here. When I turned around, I saw fish-boy, part of his head peeking out over the top of the container. I had no idea how long he'd been watching me. He was giving me a strange look, and his eyes were practically sparkling. Then I realized he was just looking at the pool.

"I'm going to have to clean up that wound before you can dive in," I told him, walking over to him. His eyes became dull as he looked over at me, still giving me that plain, slightly annoyed stare. "Can you stop looking at me like that?"

"Free."

"Forget I even said anything."

Without warning, I reached into the container and grabbed the end of his tail, bringing it above the water. His hands went to the sides of the container for support, and he glared slightly, trying to move out of my grasp; however, his glare faltered once I lifted his tail more and looked at the gash on the underside of it.

"I'm going to get bandages. I'll get someone to come tomorrow and put stitches, so this is all I can do for now," I muttered, setting his tail in the water again before momentarily going into the house and grabbing some gauze I had. I didn't have much experience with first aid, but I'd have to do whatever I could for now. Tomorrow, hopefully, Rei would be able to come over and fix the injury properly.

"…." Fish-boy stared at me as I came back out into the backyard and over to the ledge of the pool, setting down the gauze, then walked over to him and extended an arm.

"Grab on."

"…"

I sighed, reaching into the water and taking hold of him, lifting him out of the water and using both arms to hoist him over my shoulder. It looked like he had gotten the gist of what was going on, since he felt less stiff and slightly more compliant. Making my way over to the ledge, I set him down and sat down.

"Turn onto your stomach," I told him, glancing over at him. His stare was less intense, as if he was uncertain if I was going to help him or wrap his body up in the gauze and call him a mummy. After a few seconds, he supported himself on his arms and upper body, rolling over and settling down. His brows were furrowed and he squirmed a bit. Luckily the ledge of the pool had been covered and the heat hadn't made it too hot for him to handle.

"Don't struggle," I told him, shifting to sit close enough to settle his tail in my lap, sighing a bit as I felt my lap getting moist from the water still dripping from it. 'I should've dried him off a bit first…' I heard him huff a bit before putting his head down in his arms, turning his head to the side to stare at the water with that expression again. It was kind of creepy.

Nevertheless, I started, unwrapping some of the gauze. His tail twitched a bit as I pressed the cloth to the wound and his shoulders tensed, but he eventually relaxed a bit. It wasn't bleeding as much as when I'd first seen it, which made my job a bit easier. I lifted one of my legs a bit higher as I started wrapping the gauze around the wound, switching hands as the fabric wound around his tail. It took a few minutes, but I managed to cover the cut and tie it securely. Hopefully it would be tight enough to last him in the water until tomorrow.

"I'm done," I told him, turning to look at him. When he didn't answer, I leaned forward slightly, craning my head to look at his face. He should've been staring at the water, but his eyes were closed, displaying what I thought was pretty long eyelashes for a guy. I hadn't really noticed before, but there were also scales on the sides of his face; it was fainter than the ones on his shoulders and arms. His mouth was slightly open as he breathed through it in small puffs, and his chest moved slightly with every breath he took. It was a change of pace to see an expression on his face that actually seemed peaceful.

Part of me wanted to push him into the pool to mess with him, but I decided against that.

"Hey," I muttered, setting his tail off my lap. He stirred slightly. "I'm done."

"…" His eyes opened slightly, then turned to look at me. He was silent for a few moments before exhaling and sitting up, looking at his bandaged tail. His eyebrows furrowed; it was obvious he didn't like the feeling, but I wasn't going to let him try to take off the cloth. I sighed, looking down at the damp spot in front of my pants. 'I'd better change them before Sousuke decides to make a random visit and makes a joke out of it.'

"Get in the water," I said, looking up.

He was already at the bottom of the pool.

"You're welcome," I muttered, looking at him in slight disbelief. I was already starting to get used to his bluntness, unfortunately.

Half an hour later, I was freshly showered, wearing sweatpants and a random t-shirt I'd gotten from a random drawer, cooking dinner while calling Rei. Because I didn't know what fish-boy actually ate, I had decided to go for the leftover mackerel in the fridge. Giving him seafood was probably the safest option, and I figured that cooking it would probably make him a little less annoyed around me instead of giving him a piece of cooked and refrigerated fish. I sighed slightly when Rei didn't answer and decided to leave a message.

"It's Rin. I, uh, found something interesting and got injured. I need you to come over tomorrow and stitch me up. I also wanna show you what I found. I'll be waiting." Rei would probably come over and immediately correct me, saying he was a scientist, not a doctor, but he had the most medical experience, making him the one I could trust for something like this.

'Next…' Sousuke was probably thinking that I'd been kidnapped by the fishermen or something, so I dialed him after leaving the message to Rei. He picked up almost immediately.

"Rin?"

"Yeah, I'm alive."

"That's not what I'm worried about. The guy in charge of our department is asking where you are."

"…Taking care of an inmate."

"Huh?! Rin, what'd you find?"

"It's kinda hard to explain. I'd rather not talk about it over the phone. Also, I'm at home. Mind if I take the rest of the day off?"

"It's already pretty late," I heard Sousuke sigh, then go silent for a moment as I heard who I assumed was the person in charge talking to him. I couldn't tell what it was, but he sounded annoyed. A few moments later, Sousuke came back to the phone. "Yeah, it's fine. Not like anything's going to happen."

"Thanks, Sousuke."

"Yeah, yeah," I heard a click, then silence. He was usually the one to end calls, so him hanging up like that wasn't really offensive to me.

Turning off the stove, I got two plates and served out the mackerel, then took one plate and sat down at the small table in the same room. I ate my share first along with rice and steamed vegetables, then took the other plate and went outside.

"Oi," I called out. He was still swimming around near the bottom of the pool. "I made you food, so you'd better eat it. It's mackerel. You eat fish, right?" I was glad none of the neighbors were out, or they'd think that I was talking to my pool rather than what was in it. I crouched near the ledge, setting the plate down and waiting for a few moments. He looked pretty immersed in swimming. Luckily, it looked like the bandages would be able to last until tomorrow.

He finally emerged from the water, only his eyes and part of his nose showing above the water. 'Is he an alligator now?' I sighed.

"I don't know what you eat, and if I ask you you'll probably just say 'free', so I just made you this."

He swam closer to the ledge, more of his body emerging until his shoulders were above the water. He was staring at the plate with mild interest, a look I hadn't seen on him yet. He finally came up out of the water to the waist, arms resting on the ledge to support himself. Drops of water fell from his hair and face, some of it going onto the plate. He seemed like he was entranced with the smell of the fish, of all things.

"Here," I said, handing him a fork. I wasn't completely sure if he even knew how to use it. He stared at the fork for a bit before tentatively using it on the mackerel, managing to break off a piece and stick it on the end of the fork. It took him an exceptionally long time to turn it around and bring up the food to his lips, then put the piece of fish into his mouth without dropping the piece on the way. He set the fork down once he started chewing, staring down at the plate until he swallowed. Even after he finished, he was slow to respond.

"…You might want to eat mo—"

I didn't have time to finish. In no time at all, he got used to using a fork and finished up the mackerel in less than a minute. I stared at him in disbelief as he set his fork down and stared at me.

"…That good?"

"Free."

I scoffed, running a hand through my hair. "Of course." His brows furrowed slightly as he stared at me, making me slightly uncomfortable. 'What is he trying to do?' After a while, he actually managed to say something besides free.

"Mo…re."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?" I couldn't have heard that right. The first word he said besides "free" couldn't possibly be…

He looked at me with a blank expression, nodding. "More."

He pushed the empty plate towards me. He was expecting me to go make him more mackerel.

'I'm not going to be able to last a day with this guy.'

* * *

><p>Ok, so I know that I haven't updated or uploaded anything in a while ._. and I also know that I said I was updating Face the Facts soon, and I'm not lying, I will be updating in the next week or so. However, I got this idea about two weeks ago and had to write about it x_x so I'll be writing this as well along with Face the Facts. I hope to update both of them a few times before school starts again and I have to deal with being a sophomore. If you're one of my followers that are looking at this out of curiosity and haven't watched Free! I recommend that you do since I really enjoyed the series ^-^ please enjoy and leave helpful reviews!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

[Rin Matsuoka POV]

Chapter 2

A groan slipped from my lips as I felt myself become aware of my surroundings. I was completely wrapped up in my covers and definitely didn't want to move anytime soon. It always took me longer than it should to get out of bed, but once I forced myself, I usually got right to going through my usual routine. After I opened my eyes and stared at the white ceiling of my room for several seconds, I unwrapped myself from the covers and sat up, stretching and hearing my back crack. For some reason, my back felt sore.

After stretching the rest of my body for a bit, I looked over my shoulder at the digital clock sitting on my nightstand. I'd gotten up later than usual, the current time being half past ten. It was normal for me to wake up before sunrise, since I'd made it a habit when I was back in high school and it'd stuck with me afterwards. Taking a deep breath, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, walking over to the blinds and pulling them back, wincing slightly as traces of sunlight hit me and illuminated the room. The sun usually did the trick of waking me from my half-asleep state.

My body was already accustomed to the way I did things in the morning, day after day. I turned back to the bed and took off the covers and pillows, smoothing out the sheets. After the bed was done, I headed over to the bathroom, brushing my teeth and washing my face, saving showering for nighttime as usual. After I dried my face, grabbed a hair tie, and put my hair into a low ponytail (although it only tied up about half of my hair and left longer strands hanging near the front), I looked up at myself in the mirror. Staring at myself for a while, I remembered the strange dream I'd had last night.

_He swam closer to the ledge, more of his body emerging until his shoulders were above the water. He was staring at the plate with mild interest, a look I hadn't seen on him yet. He finally came up out of the water to the waist, arms resting on the ledge to support himself. Drops of water fell from his hair and face, some of it going onto the plate. He seemed like he was entranced with the smell of the fish, of all things._

_"Here," I said, handing him a fork. I wasn't completely sure if he even knew how to use it. He stared at the fork for a bit before tentatively using it on the mackerel, managing to break off a piece and stick it on the end of the fork. It took him an exceptionally long time to turn it around and bring up the food to his lips, then put the piece of fish into his mouth without dropping the piece on the way. He set the fork down once he started chewing, staring down at the plate until he swallowed. Even after he finished, he was slow to respond._

_"…You might want to eat mo—"_

_I didn't have time to finish. In no time at all, he got used to using a fork and finished up the mackerel in less than a minute. I stared at him in disbelief as he set his fork down and stared at me._

_"…That good?"_

_"Free."_

_I scoffed, running a hand through my hair. "Of course." His brows furrowed slightly as he stared at me, making me slightly uncomfortable. 'What is he trying to do?' After a while, he actually managed to say something besides free._

_"Mo…re."_

_I raised an eyebrow. "What?" I couldn't have heard that right. The first word he said besides "free" couldn't possibly be…_

_He looked at me with a blank expression, nodding. "More."_

'Wait.'

My eyes widened slightly. I remembered too many things from that dream. The way the mackerel smelled, the warmth of the sun, his voice, how annoyed yet slightly sympathetic I felt. "You aren't supposed to remember dreams after five minutes...right?" I muttered to myself, staring at my expression of disbelief reflected in the mirror. "Damn…" I sighed, realizing that it hadn't been a dream at all. 'Wish it was, though…'

Even though I had that revelation, I decided to check for myself and see if I was going crazy or not. Maybe my boredom made me lose my mind yesterday. It wasn't too hard to believe. I kept telling myself that as I walked down the hallway and into the kitchen, to the glass door leading into the yard. Since I was skeptical and in doubt, I found myself wanting to stay inside and instead stared at the pool from behind the door. Everything looked normal—small ripples in the water from the slight breeze causing slight movement in the water, but it didn't look like anything else was making the water slosh around. Seeing the water in front of me brought back memories…

My shoulders slumped and I sighed. Unfortunately, I wasn't surprised when something suddenly rose from the water. There were a mix of clouds partially covering the sky, so patches of sunlight broke through the clouds every now and then. As a sleek, bright blue tail rose from the surface of the water, some of the sunlight shifted into the yard, making the scales glisten for a few moments before disappearing underwater again. That was all the proof I needed to know that what I had remembered today wasn't a dream, but a memory. It also explained why my back was hurting—hauling a half-fish, half-man into my house in a tub filled with water wasn't something I did on a daily basis.

Nevertheless, I decided to keep watching; why, I wasn't sure. Fish-boy brought back a lot of memories that I wasn't completely comfortable with. I remembered as I saw him break the surface of the water a few more times—sometimes his tail, an arm or a glimpse of navy-blue hair. His movements were smoother than yesterday, too. They reminded me of _him_…

I sighed and turned my head away, knowing that if I kept looking at him I would start remembering too much. I did, however, take a few final seconds to look at his tail as it surfaced again. The bandages had somehow been able to stay secure over his wound. If Rei checked his phone yesterday, then that meant today he would be coming over to fix it up, if he could.

After several more moments of observing him, my stomach growled and I headed over to the kitchen. When I opened the refrigerator, though, I stood and stared at the cluster of different foods on three shelves. I usually didn't take my time to think about what I ate; my usual morning routine was mixed up now and I didn't feel like just grabbing cereal and filling a bowl, or toasting two slices of bread. 'Come to think of it, I haven't eaten real breakfast in a while…' Rubbing the back of my neck, I glanced around at the contents of my fridge before pulling out several ingredients and setting them on a counter next to the barely-used stove. After looking through the disorganized cabinets for a few minutes, I finally found a bowl and pan, along with oil and a few other utensils.

I sighed as I began mixing ingredients. The last time I'd cooked something for breakfast was several weeks ago, and even that was a vague memory. I wasn't bad at cooking, but it was hard to find the motivation for it when there were TV dinners and instant ramen in the same place as ingredients for making healthier meals and real ramen.

After about half an hour, I'd managed to make two medium-sized omelettes filled with ham and cheese. After I put them onto a plate, I went over to the fridge and grabbed a carton of orange juice, filled a glass and put the carton back into the fridge before the door could close, then fully opened the door again to take a bunch of grapes from the bottom drawer. Finally closing the refrigerator, I rinsed the grapes and set them next to the omelettes. Everything was done remotely, and once I was done I took a few moments to look at what I'd made. 'I put more effort into this than I thought…even though it looks random.' Huffing slightly, I grabbed a fork and knife before sitting down and beginning to eat in silence. The window above the sink was slightly open; the wind chime which I'd hung up when I moved in tinkled with the breeze, partnered by the sound of silverware on a porcelain plate. My mom had insisted I take a set of unused China she'd never bothered to unbox at her house, since she already had plenty of other sets. I wondered if she would be mad, finding out I was actually using them to eat instead of displaying them. Then again, I didn't think she would be surprised, considering it was me.

I finished eating after several minutes, not wanting to rush things just yet even though I knew that I had to go work soon. As I picked up the dirty plates and silverware and started to wash them, I glanced out the window in front of me. 'I didn't see if the bandages were bloodied from where the injury was…crap, I didn't make him anything to eat…' When the fork and spook were set on the drying rack, I went back over to the fridge and got another small bunch of grapes, rinsing and putting them in a small bowl and then going outside with them. Now that I'd gone past the door, I could hear him in the water by the audible sloshing of water and slight splashes his tail made. Walking up to the ledge of the pool, I crouched down and watched his form while setting down the bowl of grapes. It took him longer than it should have for him to notice I was there before surfacing, only part of his head coming up from the water as if he was an alligator (which completely contrasted with what he actually was…what_ever_ he was).

He stared at the bowl for a few more moments, both of us silent until his gaze shifted up to me. "Ma…ckerel?" he stumbled on his third word since he had gotten here slightly as he said it in a questioning tone.

"No," I said as my expression immediately turned incredulous towards him. "You can't expect me to have mackerel for you all the time. They're grapes."

"…"

"Stop looking at me like that. It's not like I poisoned them."

Hesitantly, his hand reached out of the water and plucked a grape, slowly putting it into his mouth. His brows furrowed a bit as he bit down, and he looked up at me as if to say 'This is your fault' with just his expression. I scoffed.

"I'm not going to be buying and cooking mackerel for you all the time."

"…"

"It's a waste of money. There's food here."

"…More?"

"Not mackerel, fish-boy."

He didn't say anything to that and started eating more grapes gradually, seeming to accept what I'd told him. But once the bowl was empty, he pushed it towards me and gave me an expectant look.

"Mackerel."

"I just said I'm not going to be able to give you mackerel all the time," I halfheartedly glared at him. "What I gave you yesterday were leftovers."

"More."

"I don't _have_ any more."

"…"

I sighed, already starting to get mentally weary of the direction this conversation was going in, if you could call it a conversation. Fish-boy gave up on asking me for mackerel and instead dove back underwater to give me a silent treatment. Bored, I looked at the way his tail moved. Maybe it was because I had been watching from a distance before, or I just wasn't paying attention, but I saw now that his swimming wasn't as smooth as I'd originally thought. At times the tail jerked irregularly or moved choppily. It was, no doubt, because of the injury. Rei would hopefully come over in less than an hour. Keeping fish-boy here for too long would be troublesome for me.

"I see that you still have a bad habit of keeping your doors unlocked."

'Speak of the devil…' I turned around to see Rei standing in the door frame leading to the backyard, his arms crossed. "I thought it was unlocked," I replied simply. From my tone of voice, he could probably tell I wasn't too worried about my doors being open. It wasn't as if I couldn't defend myself in the case that someone actually tried to break in. However, judging by Rei's expression, I could tell that he was definitely concerned about it.

"Leaving your doors open carries more risks than just robbers, you know," Rei started, adjusting his glasses (the first sign that he was about to launch into an essay). He stood up straighter immediately afterward (the second sign that he was about to launch into an essay) and fixed a tactical stare on me (the third sign that he was about to launch into an essay). As soon as he started talking, I leaned over to the side slightly, putting fish-boy in Rei's field of vision. "Various other risks include the—"

Silence.

It carried on for several moments, Rei's hands frozen in midair and his mouth open, caught in speech that had now been taken away. Eyes that had been trained on me were now wide open in surprise, staring at the half person/half fish in the water who was staring back at him blankly. Fish-boy put his arms on the ledge of the pool, his tail momentarily surfacing before sliding back underwater. After several long moments, Rei glanced over at me and I smirked.

"I told you I'd found something interesting, didn't I?" I said in a teasing tone. It seemed like the way I spoke to him finally shook him out of his stupor—he cleared his throat and shifted his feet slightly, his eyes mostly trained on fish-boy while occasionally glancing over at me.

"Anyways…," he started, taking a step down from the doorway and onto the backyard, "you shouldn't call me on such short notice. It isn't easy to take a day off only one day in advance, where I work."

"Ah, alright," I agreed casually, shifting down to sit cross-legged on the ground by the ledge of the pool.

"Also…how did this happen?" Rei started walking towards us slowly, as if fish-boy was going to attack him at any moment, and I smirked slightly at his curious yet hesitant movements. I'd seen him when he was interested in something new before—his body seemed anxious to move but his expression was cautious, as if he was mentally telling himself to calm down before he jumped headfirst into an analysis.

"I found him at a fishing port. It wasn't my plan to keep him here, but when I saw his wound I didn't really want to just let him go…" I rubbed the back of my neck. "I mean, it'd be kind of rude to leave him on his own if he was hurt. As soon as he's healed I'll let him go, anyway."

"Wound?" Rei glanced at me, then back at the merman. His brows furrowed slightly as fish-boy's tail rose above the water once again, revealing the temporary bandage I'd put around the gash. "How long have you had those bandages on?" He looked at the merman, but no answer came.

"He only knows how to say three words," I huffed a bit. "He won't be answering you anytime soon. Anyways, I put those on him yesterday afternoon, so he's had them for less than a day. Not sure how long he's been wounded, though. He was bleeding when I found him."

"I see…," Rei put a hand under his chin, contemplating while looking at fish boy—he didn't seem to like Rei looking at him, though, and went back underwater once Rei's gaze lingered for a bit too long.

"You're not going to get much out of him," I huffed a bit. "The most you'll be able to do is make him addicted to mackerel."

"Is that what happened to you, Rin?" Rei turned to me, smiling in a knowing way. I sighed, the only answer he needed.

"Anyways, you can help him, right?"

"I told you, I'm not exactly a doctor," Rei's disapproving expression was back as he pushed up his glasses, his fingers on both ends of the frames. "But I'll do what I can."

"Thanks," I smiled a bit as my phone vibrated. When I took it out of my pocket, Sousuke's name came up on the screen and I stood up, telling Rei I'd be back in a few minutes. Even though he seemed tuned in to observing fish-boy, he nodded a bit to confirm he'd heard me. Huffing in amusement, I walked back into the house, answering the call. "Sousuke?"

"How's that inmate of yours doing?"

I scoffed. "Enjoying himself, I guess. What's up?"

"Our director came to talk to me right now and said if you weren't here within an hour it was going to be on my record."

"Well, Rei's here right now to check on fish-boy, so I can make it over there within the hour. Oh, and that's what you get for making me deal with the incident yesterday," I retorted with a teasing tone, hearing Sousuke sigh on the other line, then go silent for a few moments. "Sousuke?"

"…Did you say 'fish-boy'?"

"Ah, yeah…," I laughed slightly, although it was more weary than humorous. "I'll explain once I get over there. See you." Hanging up, I went back out once I heard Rei calling for me.

"I'm going to need a few supplies," he said as I stepped onto the grass. "I'm assuming you have some rubbing alcohol and a spare towel?"

"Yeah," I said, putting a hand in my pocket. "I'll get them right now." Going back into the house, I walked to the bathroom and grabbed two towels off of the rack next to the shower, then went over to the mirror and opened it, grabbing the bottle of rubbing alcohol sitting on the top shelf. I hardly ever used rubbing alcohol in the first place, so the bottle hadn't even been opened yet. Stopping at the kitchen counter, I took off the cap and peeled off the label covering the bottle, then loosely twisted the cap back on and went into the backyard.

Rei nearly fell into the pool fully clothed, making me stifle a laugh. "The hell are you doing?" I called out to him.

"He's at the bottom of the pool…," Rei's face was fairly red in embarrassment. "I've tried to call out to him, but he doesn't seem to be listening."

"Yeah, he has a habit of ignoring things he's not interested in," I remarked. "And it looks like he enjoys being at the bottom of the pool most of the time. Anyways, it won't be necessary to convince him to come up once he sees that you're trying to help him. Makoto was actually better at communicating with him than I was."

"Again, I'm not a doctor…," Rei sent me a disapproving glance and I smirked.

"Even if you're not, out of all of us, you're the most likely to know about this kind of stuff—you usually injure yourself so often while experimenting that you have plenty of first-aid skills, right?"

"T-that…," Rei tried to counter my remark, his face slightly red in embarrassment. After a few moments of silence, he sighed and took out a box by his side, taking out a few other supplies, making me chuckle lightly at him. Instead of defending himself, though, he glanced at fish-boy again. "Does he have a name?"

"Huh?" My gaze also shifted to the merman. "If he does, he hasn't told me, or he forgot it…it's kind of strange, but I didn't really mind him not having a name. In my head I usually think of him as 'fish-boy'."

"Fish-boy…?"

"So that term sounds weird to more than just one person, huh?" I huffed. "Sousuke questioned it, too. Ah…"

"What is it?" Rei's gaze shifted to me this time.

"I've got to get to work in less than an hour, so we should probably get this over with before Sousuke has to take the blame for me." Rei nodded, then laughed nervously as he looked at fish-boy again.

"I was trying to call out to him for a few minutes, but he probably didn't hear…are you sure he doesn't have a name?"

"Pretty sure."

"Why don't you try taking him to a hospital? They should be able to handle his injury better than I can."

"It would cause too big a commotion. Besides, I trust that you won't immediately blabber off about this to your colleagues," I responded with a slight smirk, crouching down at the ledge of the pool, looking down and putting the hand not holding the bottle of rubbing alcohol into the water, waving my hand around a bit. Through the ripples my hand created, I saw the movement of his tail as the sunlight hit it, making it glisten slightly. Eventually his figure began to get closer. I took my hand out as he surfaced, his monotonous stare shifting between Rei and I.

"…" His gaze eventually settled on me.

"We're going to help with that cut on your tail," I nonchalantly pointed at his tail. "Can you lift yourself up onto the ledge?"

"…Mackerel."

I sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get you some later, just get out. If you need help, grab my hand."

He stared at my hand as I extended it. At first, my hand stayed extended as fish-boy started to get out of the water on his own. It didn't look like he was struggling, but as soon as he was waist-high, he tried to move his tail out of the water as well. The long tail, however, jerked as if the muscles had suddenly cramped up. Out of instinct, fish-boy immediately reached out and grabbed my hand to keep from sliding back into the water. The sudden momentum almost made me fall in the water with him, but I managed to recover from the initial surprise and keep my ground, pulling him up. After a minute or two, he was laying on his stomach on the ledge of the pool.

"Alright…," Rei adjusted his glasses a bit, then started unwrapping the bandages. Obviously, they'd gotten wet and were a bit loose around his tail, but hadn't fallen off easily. Disposing of the half-bloodied bandages in a small box, Rei sat next to me, inspecting the merman's tail thoroughly, applying some pressure around the wound and taking one of my towels to dry off the water near the wound. I glanced over as well. Even though I'd covered the wound momentarily, it didn't look much better compared to the state I'd found his tail in. As if reading my mind, Rei turned to me, smiling a bit. "It was probably a good choice to wrap the wound for a bit. It could be worse right now if you'd just let it be—infected or swollen."

"Thanks, Doc," I huffed in amusement, teasing him. Rei's brows furrowed in slight disapproval but didn't try to argue, again.

"Okay…I'll need the alcohol first," Rei started, his expression showing that he was more focused now compared to only a moment ago. Since he was getting serious, I decided not to joke around and focus on the task at hand. While I took off the cap from the bottle of rubbing alcohol and folded the second towel draped over my arm, putting the one Rei had used to dry off the area around the wound in my lap, I could feel fish-boy's eyes trained on Rei and I. Since we hadn't explained in detail what we were going to do besides help with his wound, he was probably curious about what exactly we were doing. I wet a small portion of the first towel with some rubbing alcohol, then handed it to Rei. Rei further folded the towel until there was a corner where the alcohol had been dipped, then leaned in close to the wound, gently pressing the alcohol to a spot on the edge of it.

Immediately, fish-boy's entire body stiffened. Rei and I both noticed it, but since Rei was the one focusing on the wound, I turned to the merman. He was looking over his shoulder, but he was also tense to the point that he didn't even try to turn his head far enough to see what was happening. His eyes met mine, and on instinct I smiled slightly.

"Don't worry…"

Of course, he didn't answer, but I did notice that his shoulders, which had displayed how tense he was the most, seemed to become slightly looser and less stiff. Little by little, fish-boy buried his head in his arms, taking a shaky breath. By that time, Rei had nearly finished putting the rubbing alcohol on certain areas to clean a bit, and now took out something I'd never seen before.

"What's that…?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"We developed it at the lab several weeks ago, for—please don't give me that look," Rei sighed as he saw the skeptical look I gave him. "We've already tested it, so there aren't any malfunctions. It serves as a type of first aid for injuries that would usually require surgery."

"Is his wound that bad…?" I looked over at the wound and realized what I'd just said was an incredibly stupid question. "Forget I said that…what does that thing do?"

"I think it'd be better just to show you," Rei's usual smile came on and I huffed in amusement. "It isn't pain free, but it's very effective. Um…" Rei tried to call out to fish-boy, but didn't know how to get his attention. "…Mackerel?" Fish-boy immediately glanced over.

'That's one way to do it.'

"This is going to hurt a bit, but please bear with it as much as you can. It won't take more than a few minutes," Rei smiled reassuringly at the merman. There was a moment of silence before a small nod came from his navy-blue hair; then he reburied his head in his arms, as if he knew what was coming.

I watched as Rei tampered with the device in his hand. After several moments, a small glow came from a small nozzle near the top of the device. Before I could question what he was doing, Rei pressed the nozzle to the edge of fish-boy's wound, circling the nozzle around the perimeter of it. It didn't seem to affect the merman—judging by his body, he might have even relaxed more.

"It's an anesthetic," Rei said after he finished circling the nozzle around the wound a few times, using an unused portion of the towel with alcohol on it to wipe off traces of blood that had gotten on it. "It'll make it less painful when I start closing the wound."

"…That's really cool," I admitted. "But how do you close the wound with the same device?"

"This has several different properties," Rei answered, deciding not to launch into the science of it, which was probably a good thing in my case. "It's easy to switch between which phase you're using."

"Phase…?"

Rei nodded and didn't explain any further, letting me see what he meant instead as he 'switched phases'. He pressed the nozzle into the device and covered it, then pulled out a different utensil from the device. This one had two sharp edges to it, looking almost like a pair of scissors that were only pointy at the ends. My eyes widened as Rei put on a pair of latex gloves, then leaned in closer to fish-boy's wound, then inserted one of the sharp rods into a certain point in the wound.

On instinct, my head snapped over to the merman as I heard a sound come from him. Although his head had been buried in his arms, his head was now turned to the side. His shoulders were even stiffer than they'd been before, one of his hands clenching a patch of grass next to the pool's ledge. The other hand was balled in a tight fist, knuckles white. His brows were furrowed and his eyes were screwed shut. Lips pursed in a tight line, he breathed from his nose a bit shakily. Occasionally, I heard a small, pained groan come from him. I immediately felt bad for him, whether I wanted to or not. As great as Rei's device sounded, he had said it himself—it wasn't pain-free, regardless of the anesthetic he used. To bear a wound like his for about a day and then not get proper treatment for it…

I started to feel guilty about not taking him to a hospital before, just because it would attract unwanted attention.

Eventually, fish-boy's groaning toned down little by little until it was gone completely. When he went silent, it took a few moments to make sure he was alright—his expression not as tense as before, his hands unclenched, shoulders less stiff—before turning back to Rei. As I saw the effects of what he'd been doing, my eyes widened.

"…Did you just do that right now?"

"Yes…," Rei laughed softly in relief. "I had to be very precise, but I managed not to make a mistake. It also seems like his own healing started taking control near the end."

It looked almost as if the wound had never existed. Sure, there were definitely traces of blood and slight scarring, but for the most part it just looked like a bruise. Already, there were signs of scales growing over the wound to form a new layer of skin. The wound was a darker color compared to the rest of the tail, but it was slowly changing into a lighter hue of blue.

"Rei…that's amazing," I smiled at him, laughing a bit. For whatever reason, I felt a huge weight coming off of my chest, as if I'd been the one who was injured.

"I just need to do one more thing…this phase won't hurt," Rei assured me as he cleaned the two rods on the towel, then inserted them back into the device. The last part looked similar to the tool a doctor used to look into people's ears, with a small screen on one end and a point on the other. The point glowed with a different hue than the nozzle did. "I will need to take a sample of his blood, though."

Nodding, I turned to fish-boy, putting a hand on his shoulder. Contrary to before, my view of him was different now that I'd seen him going through pain. His head turned to me, our eyes meeting, a kaleidoscope of blue, his eyes, nearly glowing with the sunlight.

"Let me see your finger," I said, holding onto his wrist. Getting what I was trying to do, he twisted his body by the torso to partially face me, letting me take his hand and hold out a finger to Rei. After taking a small sample of blood, Rei nodded and I let fish-boy lay back down in the position he was before. However, he saw his wound and was just about as surprised as I was, staring at it intently. Rei smiled sheepishly as the merman's gaze shifted to him, staring at him as intently as he had looked at his wound.

"U-um…," Rei tried to say something, but couldn't find the right words.

"Guess that's his way of thanking you," I huffed in amusement. "What were you going to do?"

"Oh," Rei looked at me. "I just need to put an extra layer of cells over the layer of skin that's forming over the wound, to give it extra protection. After all, the healing process is probably very fragile right now."

"You can do that?" I said, once again amazed by the things Rei and his colleagues had been able to come up with. When it came down to it, Rei really was a man of theory.

"Of course," Rei smiled with pride, then set to putting the layer of cells over the new skin that was forming over the wound. Within moments, he finished up and cleaned the device one more time before putting it away. "I'm done."

"Thanks, Rei…you're really something," I chuckled a bit. "I guess the second reason you agreed to help me was to be able to test your device in a realistic situation."

"Although I wouldn't call this 'realistic', exactly…," Rei said reluctantly, looking at fish-boy's tail. It took me a moment to figure out what he meant, but once I understood I nodded in agreement, sighing a bit.

"Anyways…I have to get going or else Sousuke'll kill me," I said, standing up. "Do you think you could stay here for a few hours while I work my shift? You can treat yourself to whatever's in the fridge, if you want."

"R-really?" Rei's eyes immediately brightened a bit and I smirked.

"Are you that excited?"

Noticing the way his own expression had changed, Rei adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "W-well, I have my day off today, so it's possible to stay and watch him for a bit longer…"

"Yeah, go ahead and make as many observations on him as you want," I huffed in amusement. "See if you can make him say anything other than 'free', 'mackerel', and 'more'. Name him—can't you make up a scientific name for him or something?"

"I doubt you would refer to his scientific name even if I gave him one," Rei countered, laughing a bit.

"Probably not," I answered with a slight smirk, heading to my room. Within minutes, I was dressed and my mind was clear of all worries concerning a certain merman in my backyard.

Getting my keys and keeping my phone handy, I waved to Rei on my way out and got into the cop car. Since things had been hectic yesterday, I'd completely forgotten about taking it back to the station—something else I hoped our chief wouldn't notice. I didn't cause trouble all that often, but no one else did, either. There wasn't much to get in trouble for in the first place, meaning that even a small slip in actions or judgment would be noticed much more easily than in a place where mistakes like those were masked by the constant activity.

It only took a maximum of twenty minutes to get to the station, sneaking my way in through the back entrance. The dusty smell of the building mixed with the static light from fluorescent beams hanging from the high ceiling emitted a sigh from me as I went into the main room, checking myself in with about five minutes to spare.

"Finally."

I jolted as Sousuke's voice suddenly resonated through the room. Sighing in relief, I turned to face him. "I thought you were the chief." Sousuke huffed, then flicked his wrist. Just barely, I caught the can of soda he'd tossed.

"He's doing maintenance around the station. It shouldn't take him long to finish up, though," Sousuke answered, leaning against the door frame of the main room. His too-casual attitude caught me off guard, and I raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously. "What?"

"…We're not playing rock-paper-scissors to see who gets the soda this time?"

"You always win, so what's the point?"

"Doesn't mean that it isn't fun seeing you lose," I smirked.

Sousuke rolled his eyes. "Just drink already. It's my treat for checking out what happened yesterday, I guess."

"Oh?" I tilted my head. "I almost forgot about that, actually. Thanks, though."

"Yeah…about what happened…"

"Yeah?" I leaned back on a desk.

Unfortunately, it took me too long to figure out what was really going on. No rock-paper-scissors. An expectant gaze. And now, the slight upturn of Sousuke's lips as I popped the can open. I had a strange habit of opening cans with one hand, one finger sufficient to pop the top—but this time I'd chosen to hold the soda with one hand while the other opened it. In mere seconds, fizz erupted from the top, more than plenty of it gtting on my uniform. I stood there with wide eyes for a good minute before my gaze shifted to Sousuke. His shoulders were shaking slightly, and his head was turned away.

"…Did you just…"

"…Sorry," was the muttered answer mixed in with a chuckle.

"You obviously did that on purpose!" I answered, laughing as well—until I saw someone else standing by the door. My laughter immediately died at the back of my throat, face paling a bit. Mentally, I checked off everything wrong with this situation.

'I'm at work. I skipped out yesterday afternoon. I didn't personally tell the chief. My uniform is soaked. I'm obviously not working.'

"U-um…," my speech faltered as well. There wasn't anything I could say in this situation that could change what Chief Seijurou was witnessing.

"Did you enjoy your afternoon off, Matsuoka?" Seijurou raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed. He wasn't expecting an answer, and there was no way I would be able to answer that question without making a fool of myself. I nodded slightly after a few moments of silence. "Change your uniform right away."

"Y-yes…"

I finally exhaled when the sound of Seijurou's footsteps completely faded. Sousuke had stopped laughing, thankfully.

"I guess we should go patrol now," Sousuke walked over to the lockers and handed me a new uniform, which I took with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you do something to this, too?"

"I'm not that mean."

Within several minutes, I changed out of my shirt and put on the new one and got ready for my shift. Fortunately, none of the soda had spilled on my pants. Sousuke was already driving around the block when I left the building and went into my own car. From there, I backed out of the driveway and we started off on our separate ways. The first few minutes were silent ones. I sighed softly as I settled into the normal patrolling routine.

"Rin?" Sousuke's voice suddenly appeared, causing me to jolt a bit. I unlatched the radio from my belt to answer.

"Did something happen?"

"No…I was just wondering what happened yesterday."

"Oh yeah. I was about to tell you what happened before that soda can basically exploded."

"…Sorry."

I huffed in amusement. "Don't worry about it. You're barely ever the joking type, so it was interesting to experience a prank from you. Anyways…fish-boy."

"Yeah…"

It took me a while to describe everything, from the moment I'd arrived at the port to right before leaving for work today. Sousuke occasionally pitched in a question or two, but was otherwise silent. He didn't sound surprised about the fact that I'd taken in a merman and was now going to be taking care of it.

"…Sousuke?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't have anything to say? From what I'm hearing, you don't seem too surprised."

"I mean…it's pretty weird, yeah. But it sounds like you're telling the truth. Just…"

"Hm?"

"Don't get too preoccupied. You'll get in trouble with Mikoshiba again."

"Don't worry," I replied. "He's already recovering. It shouldn't take him more than two or three more days to heal, and then I'll let him go."

"Alright."

"Oh yeah, don't forget to bring _her_."

"The day after tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah."

The rest of the shift was the same as always—uneventful, smooth, calm, silent, and (although I didn't like thinking about it) slightly boring as well. When I drove back to the station, I felt relieved to be out of the police car and on my own feet. Sousuke went off to his apartment, and I walked to the nearest store, doing some grocery shopping. I muttered names of different ingredients as I walked the aisles, then came to a complete stop when I reached the seafood area.

'Should I…'

An entire row of mackerel seemed to jut out at me. I sighed, giving in after a few moments and getting two pounds as well as a few other meats. Albeit a slow one, the realization of the types of foods I'd been eating recently weren't too healthy, to say the least. I mentally made up my mind to cut back on the amount of instant foods I was eating and focus on making my own meals.

An hour later, I'd finished getting more foods to stock up the fridge and had walked home with four bags of groceries. Considering I exercised more often than the average person, it wasn't too heavy of a load, but with the extra physical activity I'd done yesterday that had led to my arms being sore, carrying bags and walking more than a mile wasn't the best way to rest up my strained muscles. I'd have to take it easier tomorrow.

"Rei!" I called out as I set down two bags to open the door. He appeared in a few moments and helped me carry in the bags. Once they were on the kitchen table, I sat down in a chair and sighed deeply, the soreness of my arms having completely caught up to me.

"Are you alright?" Rei asked, sitting next to me.

"Yeah," I nodded a bit, sitting up straighter. "I'm kind of sore, but that should go away soon enough. Anyways, how's fish-boy?"

Rei adjusted his glasses, a small triumphant smile on his face. "I managed to collect a sample of his scales, although from his arms. I've also been observing his swimming since we closed the wound. It looks like he won't be too comfortable with swimming until he heals…"

I raised an eyebrow. "He let you take scales and watch him for several hours?"

"Well, he didn't talk at all," Rei laughed a bit and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "but he didn't seem disturbed by my watching him, either." Rei then stood up and gathered his things—a few slender books with single-colored covers as well as a pencil and writing pad. Putting them into his bag and slinging it over his shoulder, he smiled slightly. "I have to go now, though."

"Ah," I responded and stood up as well, walking with him to the door. "So, when'll fish-boy be completely healed?" I wasn't sure why I asked, since to me, it was rhetorical. Two or three days, and then I'd let him go. I felt relieved—and slightly disappointed, but mostly relieved.

"One week, minimum."

'…What?'

"I'll see you soon," Rei waved a bit, closing the door on his way out. Even if he'd been expecting an answer, which he hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to answer. My body moved instinctively, slowly walking back into the kitchen area. His words repeated in my head in a continuous loop. 'One week..minimum…' When the words finally sank in, I sighed loudly, running a hand through my hair. It wouldn't be two or three days, but _at least_ seven, if everything went well. I'd have to deal with a mackerel-addicted merman for nearly three times as long as I'd expected. Now I felt dreadful—

And no longer disappointed. But mostly dreadful.

After a few moments of thought, I told myself to stop moping. If this was the only way, then it had to be done. If treating fish-boy like a prince was going to get him healed quicker, I'd pamper him until he was sick of me.

I walked out into the backyard and went to the ledge of the pool, looking down. He wasn't at the very bottom of the pool, so it was easier to make out his form. It was also easier to see how he was struggling with his healing wound. Sometimes he would suddenly slow down, or he'd veer off in a different direction. The few times I caught a glimpse of his face, his expression definitely didn't seem as calm as it usually was. Eventually, he looked up and saw me, then slowly started ascending. Although his tail's movements weren't stiff, they weren't very smooth either. His head gradually surfaced from the water, followed by his neck and shoulders. His arms also snaked out of the water and leaned on the ledge of the water. Even if he was having a hard time swimming, his attitude was still the same—aloof, blank, and unreadable.

"So…did you like Rei?"

"…"

"How's the water feeling?"

"…"

"…It looks like you're having a hard time swimming normally."

I should've known better than to ask him questions, so I came out and directly told him what I'd been thinking. Surprisingly, the one thing that did make him react was my comment. He turned his head to the side, as if he was trying to physically deny my statement.

"Listen…," I sighed a bit, crouching down to his level. "Sorry about not taking you to a hospital. You should be fine in about a week, though. Just don't push yourself, alright?" He seemed to become slightly less cold towards me as I spoke in a more tentative tone. "I brought mackerel."

I smirked slightly. He didn't turn his head back around, but his blue eyes flickered over to me for a split second, brightening a bit. With a small nod from fish-boy, I stood and went back inside to make us dinner.

* * *

><p>It took a lot longer than expected, but I've finally finished the second chapter! I hope you guys like it since I wrote a lot of it when I should've been doing a project...aha...I also have absolutely no medical experience so if one of my readers does and wants to lecture me on everything I did wrong in a pm, go ahead ^-^' I felt really awkward writing about something I had no idea about.<p>

As a side note, technology is obviously more advanced in this time period, but this isn't supposed to be too far off in the future...maybe around 20-30 years from now? In general, a time when Rei would have the technology to make his device XD

To wrap up, I hope everyone has had a safe Christmas and a safe year in general. A lot of messed up things happened over the course of the year and it's overwhelming at times, but hopefully we can turn things around for the better next year. Review if you want—helpful and unbiased criticism is better for the writer, and your reactions are a great source of motivation—and I'll see you guys next year :D


	3. Chapter 3

[Rin Matsuoka POV]

Chapter 3

It was going to be the end of me.

It was like the ultimate taboo at a tense family reunion. The "M" word.

_Mackerel_.

I could swear that I was having dreams about the goddamn fish. For the past two days, I'd cooked fish-boy nothing but mackerel-based meals for breakfast and dinner. Of course, I'd put other foods on the side for him as well, since it would be strange to only give him mackerel. He didn't even try to eat them. When I came back from work yesterday, the plate had been completely cleaned off—except for the portion of vegetables and rice I'd also cooked. Trying to talk to him about it obviously didn't help either, since he still spoke only three words, and all three of them were annoying and/or confusing.

At least it made him forget about his wound for a while. Sometimes I would have to give him painkillers when his tail started to hurt too much—and when he refused to take the pills, which was all the time, I crushed them into powder and mixed them in with his food. Thankfully, he hadn't noticed so far. He also had a habit of watching me while I cooked food for him—the glass door leading out to the backyard gave him a wide view of the stove, refrigerators, and counters of the kitchen. I made sure to keep out of his line of sight when I put in the powder. To compensate for the pill's bitter taste, I managed to mask it with seasoning. It also looked like fish-boy enjoyed the taste of mackerel too much to pay attention to any particular nuances.

Today was different, though.

I'd been careless. Since Seijurou had given Sousuke and I new areas to patrol starting this week, we'd been figuring out how to share it with each other. Sousuke's directional skills weren't the best, so I tried to make it as simple as possible so that he wouldn't end up on the other side of town. After figuring out roles, we were called back to the station for a general meeting. Immediately after the meeting had ended, a call had come in from the new area Sousuke and I were assigned to. The prospect of something actually happening was both exciting and slightly dreadful. The latter was appropriate, since we went to the scene and discovered that it'd been a prank call by a certain delinquent and a disapproving accomplice—Seijurou Mikoshiba's younger brother, Momotarou Mikoshiba, and Nitori Aiichirou. Both of them liked spending time around Sousuke and I, but Momotarou had troublesome ways of getting our attention, and Nitori was often dragged around by him even though Nitori was a year older. It took up a good half hour to talk with them (specifically Momotarou) and tell them to try something normal in order for Sousuke and I to notice them next time. The warning that we'd tell Seijurou seemed to get to the younger Mikoshiba sibling, at least. Nitori had apologized for both him and Momotarou before dragging him off somewhere else.

Our shift had been only a few hours that day, so I went back to the station and put my uniform away, then went with Sousuke to his apartment to pick up Winnie. She'd taken a liking to Sousuke since the moment she met him, to the extent that Sousuke and I took turns taking care of her now. She seemed pretty happy about switching homes every week. Now my only concern was Sousuke's own dog, which was the same type—and male. I didn't want to pick Winnie up one week and find out I was going to be the grandfather of a litter of puppies. Fortunately, those news weren't waiting for me when I got to Sousuke's apartment this time, but it definitely looked as if Winnie and Sousuke's dog, Ryuu, were getting friendlier and friendlier with each visit. Contrary to his name*, Ryuu had been extremely timid around Winnie at first. Sometimes I teased Sousuke about his intuition backfiring on him when he'd named Ryuu.

After picking up Winnie, I'd driven back home and fixed up her things around the house. Within fifteen minutes, we were settled down and I'd finally started cooking. I'd been acting so casually without a thought towards fish-boy that when I cooked his dinner, I added in the powdered painkiller in plain sight. It was only after I went outside and set the plate down on a small tray, near the ledge of the pool, that I noticed the way the merman was looking at me.

"…What?" I raised an eyebrow. "It's mackerel. Your favorite, right?"

Fish-boy opened his mouth and his lips moved slightly, as if trying to mimic what he was going to say beforehand. His brows furrowed and he gave up on trying to talk, then continued to stare at me with the usual disappointed glare.

"This is the last piece of mackerel," I sighed. "What's gotten into you? Are you finally sick of eating the same thing over and over?"

"…No."

"_That's_ your fourth word, huh," I said plainly, not surprised that of all the possible words to learn, it was "no". I had a feeling he was going to be using it often. "So, what's your problem?"

"…" Fish-boy opened his mouth again, but looked increasingly frustrated as he failed to say what he wanted. Instead, he pointed at the mackerel, then towards the kitchen. I raised an eyebrow. He made a motion of pinching his fingers to signify something small, then pointed to the mackerel again. Slowly, the pieces started coming together and I sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it now," I responded immediately once I understood what his silent whining meant. "Does it seriously bother you that much? They're just pills. _Medicine_. It's supposed to make you feel better, you know."

"…No."

"I've lived in society longer than you, so I'm pretty sure of what I'm talking about," I answered, my eyebrow twitching slightly in annoyance. "Besides, regardless of how weird they seem to you, they're obviously working, aren't they?"

He didn't say no this time.

"Listen, the sooner you eat, the sooner the pain will go away. I can already tell you're in pain," I pointed to his hands, hanging onto the ledge of the pool. Their grip was tighter than was probably necessary, and his shoulders were a bit stiff. I'd learned early that his shoulders were sometimes more expressive than his face, and I'd use them instead of his face or incredibly small vocabulary to figure out what he was trying (not) to tell me when he was being difficult.

After a few moments of absolute silence, fish-boy reluctantly took the fork into his hand and played around with the mackerel, moving it back and forth on the place, effectively eliciting another sigh from me.

"Do you want me to feed you or something?"

"…No."

"Then hurry up and start eating."

"…"

I made a grab for his fork, but he managed to pull it out of range. After an intense glare-off, he finally started eating the mackerel, incredibly small piece by incredibly small piece. His furrowed brows gradually relaxed, and he averted his gaze to the plate once he got into eating. As usual, he didn't touch any other foods I'd put on his plate, but for today, eating the mackerel was sufficient enough to make me satisfied. Once he'd eaten the last piece of mackerel, I reached out for his plate and he gave it to me. Cleaning off his fork with a napkin, I decided to eat the foods he hadn't bothered to touch.

"So…," I started as I swallowed a forkful of rice, "Why haven't you eaten any of the other foods I've given you?"

"…"

'Of course. That's the answer I was expecting.' Rolling my eyes, I thought for a bit while eating and then tried again. If I was going to have any type of conversation going between us, I'd have to cope with his current speaking abilities.

"Are you allergic to foods other than fish?"

"…No."

"Have you been eating fish your entire life?"

"…" A small nod.

"So…you've never tried anything other than fish before?" I asked, my tone a bit incredulous.

"No…"

I rubbed the back of my neck, then cleaned the fork one more time before scooping up some rice and holding it out to him. He looked absolutely repulsed. I let out a small laugh, although I wasn't sure if it was out of amusement or impatience. Holding the fork closer, I raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Don't look at it like that. It's rice. Just try it, fish-boy," I said, staring straight at him while he looked anywhere besides the rice on the fork. "You've never even tried it, right? If you try some and still don't like it, then I won't make it anymore. At least try it and stop acting like a four-year-old."

The last statement finally seemed to spark a reaction, and his eyes immediately came back to me. He was obviously annoyed by my persistence, but he probably also knew that I wasn't going to give up until he tried some, even if I had to force a single grain into his mouth. Hesitantly, he looked at the fork and reached forward. His fingers plucked off a single grain of rice from the forkful I'd gathered.

'Are you kidding me?'

Nevertheless, I stayed silent and watched him look at the grain for a while before finally putting it in his mouth. Although his brows were still furrowed, his expression was beginning to return to its usual neutrality. After what seemed like an eternity, he swallowed and then awkwardly looked around him, at me for a split second, then at the fork again before plucking off another grain.

"If you like it, just eat it by the mouthful," I smirked in amusement, holding out the fork to him. He immediately took it and put the fork into his mouth. It remained in his mouth for a few moments before he swallowed, then slowly slid the fork out. Without even looking at me this time, he reached for more rice and kept eating.

'That took a lot less time than I thought it would.'

When fish-boy moved on to the other food I'd put on his plate, asparagus, I barely managed to contain a laugh as his face contorted as if he'd just eaten a sour plum.

"Yeah…those can be kind of bitter," I said between a chuckle. Surprisingly enough, he continued to eat them even after openly showing his dislike of them. I wondered if it was his sole curiosity that was fueling him to continue this time. Two days ago, I'd given him grapes on a whim because I'd been in a half-delusional state, questioning my sanity—and from the looks of it, he'd also been too confused to realize he was eating "human" food, either. Now, it looked like he wanted to devour anything in sight.

When the merman finished eating, in a matter of mere moments, everything was quiet until I heard him sigh softly.

"Satisfied?" I teasingly asked. His brows immediately furrowed in disapproval of my taunting and pushed the empty plate towards me, probably thinking something along the lines of "Shut up". I stood and went back into the kitchen, washing his plate and fork. I'd lost a bit of motivation after having cooked for fish-boy, so I set some water to boil on the stove so I could make instant ramen. After drying off my hands, I turned off the stove and filled up the cup to the brim, then covered the top again and dumped the rest of the boiled water in the sink.

As I waited for the ramen to heat up, I glanced over at the pool. For some reason, fish-boy was staring intently at me—or not. As I followed his gaze, I soon realized that what he was interested in wasn't me, but what I was eating. Huffing in amusement, I grabbed the cup and peeled off the top, throwing it out, and grabbed a pair of chopsticks before heading outside, sitting in a chair I'd set next to the pool. Fish-boy struggled a bit to get to the opposite side of the pool, but it didn't look as bad as two days ago, or even yesterday. Once he reached me, he kept on staring at my cup.

"…Is there something wrong?" I asked tentatively. I had a suspicion of what exactly it was he wanted, but I wasn't sure I wanted it confirmed.

"…" He pointed at the cup.

"You want some of this?" I held up the cup, raising an eyebrow. He immediately nodded. 'I could make him a cup…he already ate his own share of food, though.' After a few moments of thought, I picked a few strands of noodles with my chopsticks and pulled them up and out of the cup, hovering over it. Although I didn't usually share food with others using the same utensils, I doubted fish-boy's mouth had been anywhere too repulsive.

As I held out the noodles toward him, he looked at them with a slightly puzzled expression, making me huff in amusement.

"Just put your mouth over the part where the noodles are wrapped around the sticks and slurp up the rest. Just be careful. These kind of noodles are a little spicy," I warned him, then held the chopsticks closer to him. After several seconds of hesitation, he leaned forward and did his best to follow my instructions. He slurped up the rest, looking surprised at how easily they'd slipped into his mouth, then looked at the cup expectantly.

"…More."

"Coming right up, fish-boy," I said with a slight scoff before getting some more. He eventually started getting the hang of eating the noodles. After I'd given him a fair amount, I started gathering some for myself while staring at fish-boy. He was wiping the edge of his mouth with a seemingly satisfied expression. "You know…"

"…?"

"When I'm feeding you…you look like a little kid," I commented, snickering a bit. His brows immediately furrowed and he made a move to splash me. I just barely managed to dodge the range of the splash—or rather, the noodles did. I'd held them out of reach so none of the water could reach it, but I'd gotten a fair amount of it over my face, hair, and shirt. Droplets had reached my legs, but the most damage had been done to my upper body.

"…No," was his delayed response.

I glared at him halfheartedly, then stood as I heard my cell phone ringing and went back inside. Setting the instant ramen on the kitchen table, I answered my phone.

"Rin-chan!"

"…Nagisa?" I muttered in surprise. "Is that you?"

"You forgot, didn't you?" I could almost hear Nagisa pouting from the other line.

"Sorry, I've been losing track of time lately," I admitted. "What happened?"

"We were going to talk today by Skype. I haven't seen your face in a long time, you know!"

"Yeah, I know," I smiled slightly. "I think I've forgotten what you look like."

"Eh?! Rin-chan, that's mean!"

I chuckled, then looked over at the microwave to check the time. "Alright…how about I call you at seven? I have to finish eating and get a change of clothes…"

"Sure, but why do you need to get a change of clothes?"

"Ah…I just got home."

"But you're already eating?" I jolted as Nagisa suddenly gasped so loudly it created static over the phone. "Is there a girl living with you?! Did she cook for you?!"

"…No," I deadpanned, wanting to laugh at the mere idea. "Well…"

"What does she look like?"

"…He."

"RIN, YOU'RE—"

"This isn't about romance!" I shouted into the other line, then sighed loudly. "I'm taking care of an injured…person."

"Aw, that's boring," Nagisa chided, then laughed. "Well, I guess I'll see you at seven. Tell Rei-chan I said hi!"

"Don't you always talk to him at least once a day?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't get to call today, so you have to pass on the message," Nagisa answered, then hung up. After sending a text to Rei, I finished up my ramen and went into my room to change shirts, then did my best to dry off my hair with a towel. I hadn't thought that I needed a hair dryer when I moved in, but recent times had proved that I had plenty of reasons for needing to dry my hair quicker—tight schedules and temperamental mermen.

When I came back into the kitchen about fifteen minutes later, I checked the time. "Six forty…," I muttered, then rubbed the back of my neck and glanced outside. The sun was starting to set. Fish-boy seemed to notice too, staring up at the sky. Occasionally, his tail would rise out of the water a bit before submerging itself again. The painkillers were working, by the looks of it. Stepping closer to the door leading to the backyard, I looked up. The sky had been clouded all morning, but now there wasn't a single cloud in sight. To be honest, it'd been a while since I'd felt this relaxed, but not bored. I took a deep breath and leaned against the door frame. In the far distance, the moon was starting to show, along with two or three stars. The horizon was a warm orange which slowly faded to a light blue tint, then to a darker blue farther across the majority of the sky. The far east horizon was a slight tint of purple. Both fish-boy and I took in the scene in silence, watching as a flock of three or four birds flew across the sky above us.

My gaze was directed elsewhere, though, when the merman suddenly pointed to the moon, then stared at me expectantly.

"You can't eat the moon," I remarked with a slightly confused expression.

He gave me a look as if to say "Of course not, stupid," and pointed at the moon again, then pointed at his mouth. Still, I was wondering if he wanted to know what kind of food the moon was made out of. His mouth opened slightly, and he did it again—moving his lips but not actually saying anything. This time, it looked like he was trying to say something specific. At one point, his mouth formed a vague "O" shape.

"You…want to say 'moon'?" I said after a while, realizing why he was trying so hard to make certain sounds. I'd never thought about it before. He understood what other people said perfectly, but when it came to him, he had a difficult time trying to say things for himself. "…You haven't spoken in a while, have you?"

"…No." He didn't look directly at me this time, but back up at the sky, which was slowly getting darker.

I walked out onto the grass, then pulled up a chair in front of him and sat down. "Moon…well…" Speaking was something that came naturally to me—to everyone, for that matter—so explaining how the sounds meshed together to make words seemed to make my mind work backward to make sense of it, especially since I was going to teach it. My pupil happened to be nearly completely illiterate, as well, which didn't make it any easier. "Just make the same sound in the beginning when you say 'more', then the 'o' sound…and the sound for 'n' is the same as when you say 'no'."

He seemed to contemplate over my words for a few moments before trying it out himself—first the "m", then "n", and then "oo". He had a bit of trouble with the sound of the vowels, but within a minute or two, he had pieced together the different sounds.

"M…oon…moon," he muttered it so softly I almost didn't hear it. All I could do was stare as he began saying it with more confidence. It might've been my imagination, but light seemed to come into his eyes when he said it a final time. "Moon."

"…Yeah," I said after several moments. "…Do you want to learn more?"

"…More?" Fish-boy turned to me with a curious glint in his eyes, making me smile slightly.

I went through each letter, signaling with my mouth how to say each sound. Once we'd gone through the consonants and vowels, I demonstrated combination sounds. He was a relatively fast learner, and I got the hang of teaching him in a matter of minutes.

"That's all there is…writing down the words is another story, but as long as you can say the sounds, you should be fine," I said once I finished, then raised an eyebrow. Fish-boy was staring at my face a little too intently. "You okay?"

"…'A'…," he murmured, making one of the sounds I'd taught him.

"Huh? Yeah, 'A—"

My eyes widened and I froze as he suddenly reached out, putting a finger to my teeth. 'W-what the hell…' He touched the tips of some of them, then leaned in further and stared at them intently before leaning back, seemingly satisfied.

"Sh…arp," he said decidedly. My eyebrow twitched in slight annoyance.

"Since you know sounds, you could've just asked, you know," I retorted, then panicked. I'd completely forgotten about checking the time. Somehow, spending time with fish-boy had made me lose track of time almost instantly.

Hurriedly standing up and making my way back into the house, I searched through the cluttered living room and finally found my laptop, carrying it over to the kitchen and turning it on. I hadn't used it in so long that a thin, barely visible layer of dust had formed on the cover. Thankfully, it didn't take too much time to turn it on and start up Skype. I found I could relax a bit when I saw the time—five minutes past seven. I'd had a suspicion when I was looking for my computer that it was already at least fifteen minutes past seven.

It didn't take longer than half a ring for Nagisa to pick up.

"Rin-Rin, you're late!"

"Sorry…and don't call me Rin-Rin," I remarked, glaring halfheartedly.

From there on, not a lot of talking came from my end. Nagisa seemed to do a lot of the talking for both of us. Hell, I was convinced he could hold up a conversation with himself if he wanted to.

"Have you apprehended any dangerous criminals lately, Rin-chan?" Nagisa teased with a bright smile, making me roll my eyes.

"You know that it's never eventful here. If one did come, it would probably be from another town or something."

"Ah, but what about that injured guy you're taking care of?"

"Oh…," I rubbed the back of my neck. It was harder to lie in front of Nagisa when he could see my face. "He got into an accident while he was fishing."

"A freak accident?" Nagisa's brows rose.

"No, the real freak is the person," I smirked a bit. "He eats nothing but mackerel and he barely ever talks."

"Huh? He doesn't have a family?"

"Not that I know of. Maybe he's just trying to freeload off me until he's satisfied with my hospitality."

"What's his name?"

"It's…I don't know," I admitted with a small laugh. "He hasn't told me."

"That's weird…" Nagisa's eyes suddenly lit up and he broke into a mischievous smile. "What if he's that dangerous criminal you talked about? A man with no family and no name is definitely suspicious!"

"I doubt someone like him is a criminal," I answered plainly, looking over my shoulder at the pool. I'd left the door open since the temperature wasn't too hot or cold today. Fish-boy was staring straight at me with furrowed brows, as usual. Chances were that he was listening in on every word being said between Nagisa and I. "He's too…helpless."

Although I didn't think it possible, his brows furrowed more as I said that.

"It's the helpless ones you have to look out for, Rin-Rin!"

"What did I say about that nickname?" I turned back to Nagisa, raising an eyebrow.

"I wonder…"

I huffed in amusement, deciding not to linger on the nickname that had stuck with Nagisa ever since getting to know me in elementary school. "So, how are things going at work?"

"It's really fun!" Whenever Nagisa said that specific line, I knew that he was going to start talking non-stop once again. I listened, regardless, smiling at Nagisa's enthusiasm. He might've been only a year younger than I was, but he still had the same jumpy energy he had over ten years ago when I first met him, in elementary school. It had been nearly exhausting being around him at first, but after a while I'd gotten used to it, and even shared some of that energy with him.

"You really never get tired of what you do, huh," I muttered, settling my chin in the palm of my hand.

"Eh? Rin-chan, did you say something?"

"…No, I was just talking to myself. I missed talking to you face-to-face."

"Really?" Nagisa said with another strange glint in his eyes, making me hesitate before answering.

"…Yeah…I did."

"Well, you'll be able to see me face-to-face again in three weeks—in person!" Nagisa exclaimed. My eyes widened a bit in surprise.

"You're coming back?"

"I got a few days off and I have enough money saved up, so I really wanted to come back here! How long has it been…?"

"Almost two years," I said after a moment of thought. "The moment you graduated from college, you set out to start your career. It surprised all of us."

"I haven't seen Mako-chan or Sou-chan either!"

"Sousuke doesn't like it when you call him that," I smirked a bit.

"Hey, is that bakery still there? The one we all used to go to?"

"Yeah," I nodded and smiled gently, nostalgia setting in. "They still make that strawberry shortcake you used to lose all your allowance on."

"How's Winnie?"

"She's happier than ever. I think she misses you too."

The conversation carried on in the same way—recalling memories from two years ago, and even prior to that. It'd been a time when all of us weren't as preoccupied with our own lives as we were now, and we simply enjoyed being with each other and joking around. Of course, our futures had all been on our minds, but at that time we weren't worried about securing one just yet. Thinking of experiencing those things again with Nagisa and the others almost seemed like we were going to go back in time and relive those carefree days.

"Ah…I'm tired of talking," Nagisa laughed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I had a lot to tell you."

"Same here," I answered. "You're so energetic that it rubs off on other people."

Nagisa stretched and yawned, then waved to me. "I should probably go to sleep now."

"Sleep?" I looked at the time displayed on the bottom right of the computer monitor. "It's only seven forty…"

"The time zones are different over here," Nagisa said, then looked around him.

"What time is it over there?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Um…five thirty?"

"…In the morning?"

"Yeah," Nagisa smiled. "I stayed up all night, too, since I was really excited to talk to you."

"You're a dork," I teased and smiled. "Get some rest so that you do more than catch up on sleep when you come over here."

"I'd never fall asleep with you guys around!" Nagisa laughed a last, lighthearted laugh before the call ended, his face disappearing from the screen just as suddenly as it had appeared.

As I turned to look out towards the backyard, I continued smiling to myself. There was something about Nagisa's aura that made me want to smile no matter what the situation was. If anything, he was like the younger brother I'd never had—like Gou, but obsessed with penguins instead of muscles.

"…Rin-Rin."

My eyes widened in a split second as I heard that nickname again—said by a voice that definitely wasn't Nagisa's. My gaze snapped over to fish-boy, who was staring at me plainly.

"Did you just…?" I muttered in disbelief. Maybe I'd just been imagining things. 'Once someone teases you about your name, it sticks with you, after all…right? I probably just thought that was what he said, but it actually wasn't—'

"…Rin-Rin." This time, I was certain I heard a tone in fish-boy's voice that I had never heard before. Amusement. I felt heat rise in my cheeks as the nickname was repeated for a third time.

"It's just Rin," I snapped at him.

"Rin-Rin."

"T-that's not…," I cleared my throat and looked away, saving what little of my dignity towards this half-man, half-fish was left.

"…"

"Are you done?"

"…No."

I huffed in annoyance, then stood up and left the kitchen, heading over to my bedroom. As usual, Winnie was lying around on my bed.

"Let's give you a bath," I said to her. Her head perked up immediately at the word "bath" and she barked, jumping off of the bed and running out of the room. As I got her supplies from the bathroom, I imagined her running down the hall, circling around the kitchen table in excitement a few times before running outside and—

'Outside.'

"Shit," I muttered, then hurried to get the rest of the supplies I needed before hastily going outside. As I thought, Winnie had taken an immediate liking to fish-boy, who at the moment looked utterly and absolutely bewildered by the sudden presence of a third party in the backyard.

"D-dog…," he said, then tried swimming over to the opposite side of the pool. Fortunately for him, he was fast. Unfortunately, he was in a pool. Within mere seconds, Winnie had run over to the opposite side and barked directly in fish-boy's face as he surfaced from the water, then further leaned in and licked his cheek, making me stifle a laugh. A nearly unnoticeable gasp escaped from fish-boy and he immediately submerged himself again, going to the bottom of the pool.

"Good girl," I chuckled after a few moments of my own bewilderment. Winnie finally noticed that I was there and went over to me. Setting down the supplies on the chair I'd been sitting in before, I got a large plastic tub from the side of the house, rinsing it out with the hose before filling it up. After it had been filled about halfway, Winnie got in and I set to washing her. Contrary to her character, she was strangely calm whenever I would bathe her, and even when I dried her off. In the middle of putting shampoo on her fur, I noticed fish-boy watching us intently and our gazes met. I huffed in amusement.

"What's wrong? Are you jealous?"

His instant glare was the only answer I needed. I continued to wash Winnie in silence "C…cats…," he slowly started to say something.

"Huh?"

"I like…cats," he muttered.

"Fish-boy likes cats? Sounds like a tragicomedy," I remarked, smirking, then dodged before he could splash me for the second time today.

Winnie barked, bringing my attention back to her. I finished washing her in a few more minutes, then rinsed and dried her off, then got rid of the dirtied water before going back to the chair and sitting down, sighing as I did so. After several minutes of combing her fur, Winnie sat next to me, her wagging tail occasionally brushing against my leg. It looked like fish-boy was still keeping his distance, but Winnie had calmed down now and wasn't going to be jumping at him anymore. Fully relaxed, I leaned back and stared up at the sky. The sun's light was completely extinguished, leaving it pitch black with a few stars and the moon shining in its place. The lights from the town got in the way of seeing all the stars, but the absence of clouds tonight made it easier to look at them.

"Tomorrow, I'll make you something different to eat," I murmured. There wasn't a lot of noise now, so it wasn't necessary to speak too loudly to fish-boy for him to hear me. "Is there anything you have in mind?"

"…No."

"You're pretty good at carrying conversation," I remarked with a slight smirk. He heard the tone of my voice and knew better than to retort with a legitimate answer to my remark, staying silent for a bit.

"…Mackerel."

"From now on, mackerel's for special occasions," I deadpanned. "Unless you can come up with the money to buy it yourself, I'm not making it all the time."

"Mo…ney?"

"Yeah. What makes the world go round," I huffed a bit. "You won't be getting any mackerel for a while as long as I have to use money for other things. Just bear with it. From what I've seen, it doesn't seem like you're particularly against certain types of food."

"S-st…rawberry…"

"Hm?" I hummed slightly in question, listening.

"Short….cake."

"So you eavesdropped on that, too?" I asked casually. "It's a type of sweet. Maybe I'll buy some at the bakery tomorrow. If you behave."

Silence.

"Or not…," I scoffed a bit. "Anyways, get some sleep."

"…No."

"That's the first time I've heard someone turn down sleep," I said, sitting up straight to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with sleeping? I imagine you haven't had a problem with it the past three days."

He shook his head, as if dismissing my response, then thought for several moments before beginning to speak. "I can't…sleep."

"…You _can't_?" I repeated.

He shook his head again. "…Never."

This new fact brought me to immediate attention. "You haven't slept at all? _Ever_?"

"Never…"

"What have you been doing at night these past three days, then?" I asked.

"…Swimming."

"That's obvious," I rolled my eyes. "But what else?"

"I…," he averted his gaze, looking into the water. He seemed to think to himself for a bit before answering. "Feel…water…accept it."

"You…feel the water." As I rephrased his words, a sour taste seemed to surface in my mouth, and this time, my own brows furrowed. He nodded. "…I don't get that."

It didn't look like he knew how to explain it either, judging by the silence that dragged on afterwards. Even if he did manage to explain, I wouldn't have heard anything he said.

_"What do you mean?!" I was furious. I wanted to beat him to a pulp. " 'The race doesn't matter'?! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"_

_"Racing to be first is meaningless." That cold attitude and expression pushed me to the edge, and before I knew it, I had pushed him against a locker by his goggles. He wasn't the least bit fazed._

_"Are you serious?! We're swimming competitively, _you_ placed first, and _you're_ telling _me_ that trying to be first is meaningless?!" My grip on his goggles were so tight that my knuckles were white._

_"…Yes."_

_"Then why the hell are you here in the first place?" I shouted. At this point, I was probably calling the attention of other people standing near the lockers, but I could've cared less. "If you're not aiming to be the best, why are you even swimming?!"_

_There was a moment of silence before he finally looked me in the eyes. His irises seemed to glow with a hidden energy that I'd never noticed before._

_"I swim to feel the water. As long as I can feel it, I don't care about anything else."_

"…Rin-Rin."

I jolted, coming back to my senses. Fish-boy was staring at me skeptically.

"…Y-yeah. W-wait, no. Don't call me that. It's just Rin," I glared at him, doing my best to forget the memory that I'd just remembered so vividly. My surroundings and emotions, especially my pent-up frustration, had all seemed to manifest in a split second. Fish-boy seemed to notice it, as well.

"…Weird."

"Thanks," I scoffed, deciding to stand up before I could remember anything else unpleasant. "Well…just try not to cause any trouble while I'm sleeping."

"I don't…"

I rubbed the back of my neck, watching as Winnie went inside, sensing that I was ready to sleep. Fish-boy looked at me with a questioning gaze.

"Winnie sleeps with me. She keeps freeloaders in check. So-called freeloaders like you get to stay in the pool," I remarked with a faint smile before heading inside.

Once I took a shower and settled into bed, I found myself feeling restless. It'd been several months since I'd even thought about what happened that day—and I wasn't eager to keep thinking about it. I'd naturally assumed that I was over it, but now I knew that definitely wasn't the case. After all, that was the day—

"Stop," I muttered to myself. Winnie's head perked up from the bed sheets and she whined a bit, settling down closer to me. Moving my hand slightly, I found her head and scratched her behind the ears, smiling slightly when I felt her tail wagging against my leg. I would never admit it to save my life, but when I was living alone, I would feel desperate to spend time with someone, whether it was over the phone or in person. Just having something living next to me brought me comfort, which also made me worry—eventually, I'd have to get over the fear of being alone, but I had no idea how to even start.

Within a few minutes, I started to lose consciousness and eventually fell asleep a while later. However, it felt like I had only blinked when I heard Winnie suddenly bark, jolting awake. Pushing some of my hair out of my face, I slowly sat up and raised an eyebrow when I saw Winnie wide awake, standing by my bedroom door and looking back and forth between me and the hallway.

"What are you doing…?" I muttered, tilting my head a bit in confusion. She only barked again, then paced back and forth in the room before eventually stopping in front of the door again and barking louder, making me sigh. "I took you out before I went to sleep. You know better than to ask me this late…"

My speech faded when I heard something else, although it was faint at first. It was like those instances where you thought you heard someone say your name, but that person wasn't even looking at you.

It usually didn't happen multiple times, though.

"I'm finally going crazy…," I muttered as I swung my legs over the side of the bed, reluctantly getting up and walking down the hallway. Winnie followed close behind, occasionally whining. Yawning as I went into each part of my house, I couldn't find a trace of what could have made the sound that was eerily similar to my name. I started to feel irritated, having woken up for practically nothing. I went into the kitchen, aimlessly wandering to see if I could find some sort of clue.

"…Rin!"

This time, it was a lot louder. Out of shock, I hit my foot on the leg of the kitchen table, cursing and leaning back on the counter while pain shot through my foot, eventually starting to subside. 'It sounded like it came from…' As I looked to my right, I felt like hitting my foot again. There was nothing to blame but my half-asleep state of mind for not processing that the only thing in my house—or rather, _outside_ of it—that could make a sound remotely like my name was none other than the merman in my backyard.

"Seriously?" I muttered as I opened the door to the backyard, stepping out. There still weren't clouds in the sky, but it looked like it was the early stages of dawn—there was a faint hint of light coming from the east, almost unnoticeable.

"…Yes."

"I got up in the middle of the night because you were calling out my name?"

"…I need…help." The last word was said extremely reluctantly, making me huff in amusement despite still feeling pain from my own recklessness.

"Help?"

He nodded. "My…tail."

I tilted my head in confusion, walking over to him. "What about it? Is it bleeding again?"

"It's fine…slightly."

"It's slightly fine?" I repeated in an incredulous tone of voice, raising an eyebrow. "Let me see it."

Nodding again, fish-boy put his arms onto the ledge of the pool before pulling himself up and rolling over a bit so I could see the area where his wound had been. My eyes widened as I took in the sight before me.

"…What is that?"

* * *

><p>*Ryuu=竜=Japanese word for "dragon"<p>

I took advantage of spring break to finally update. The truth is that I wrote this within a week of uploading the second chapter but couldn't finish editing ._. So I could have potentially updated three or four months ago...but let's not get in depth on that...

In other news, I'm planning out the next few chapters before I get to writing anything, so that the pacing is stable and I don't skip over anything I had planned. It's the first time I've legitimately planned things out before writing them for _anything _(school assignments included) so it's an interesting experience...

I like cliffhangers.

Edit: There was some misunderstandings about the timeline (which was completely my fault) which I fixed up in the text, but to clear them up:

1. The school year system is the Japanese style, so six years of elementary school (from around 6-12 years old), three years of middle school (13-15 years old), and three years of high school (16-18 years old).

2. Nagisa and Rin _did_ meet up in elementary school. Nagisa was about eleven while Rin was around twelve.

3. Both went to college for four years. Since its been about two years since Nagisa graduated, it would make Nagisa around 23-24 years old and Rin 24-25 years old at the moment.

Special thanks to Saphire282 for pointing this out to me ^-^'

If there are any other inconsistencies, don't be afraid to tell me.


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